European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 14, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                I16a far seven years. The shows Are always performed with six aircraft. The . Heirs amps photos by Meridith Winder to he action Aam As. Our it crowd Quot Batic t he Only closer cited in died in occurred the r come exhibit soloists to gating i to Ling new a five times Otice 10 g spending Ial air girds Are Ibers Aid unit m i earing four decades in the air throughout their 38 years of performances the thunderbird have flown front line air Force fighter jets with one exception. Quot since 1953 we be used eight different aircraft and they be been front line fighters Quot said capt. Michael to Quot Beale a soloist with the team. Quot the Only exception was from 1974 to 1981 when we used the t-38 Trainer. A lot of that was due to fuel  the thunderbird were officially activated june 1, 1953, As the 3600th air demonstration team at i Tike fab Ariz. The first aircraft was the straight winged f-84g Thunder Jet which had seen extensive action in Korea. Early in 1955, the thunderbird switched to the swept Wing f-84f Thunder Streak. In their first three years the team performed for More than 9 million spectators in 222 shows that included Tours of Central and South America. In 1956, the team moved to its current Home at Nellis fab Nev. It also switched to the world s first supersonic fighter the f-100 super Sabre which was used for 13 years. More than 1,000 demonstrations were flown in the Quot a Quot and Quot a Quot models of that aircraft. In the Middle of the f-100 Era the thunderbird changed briefly to the f-105 thunderchief. After Only six shows in 1964, because of an extensive modification that became necessary on All Thunder chiefs the team returned to the f-100. From 1969 to 1973, the thunderbird flew the f-4e phantom. In five seasons the team performed More than 500 demonstrations while travelling in the states Canada Central America and Europe. Prior to the current tour the teams lost appearance in Europe was 1984, which was after it switched to the f-16. In 1986, the thunderbird participated in the Centennial Celebration of the statue of Liberty with a Fly by the largest crowd to see a performance was at Coney Island n.y., on july 4, 1987, when More than 2 25 million people showed up the team claims to have never cancelled a performance because of maintenance difficulties Meridith Winder september 14, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 15